Interlinking Hubs from Multiple Accounts

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   Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years ago

   Hello everyone!
   
   I work with multiple accounts here on Hubpages. This is the first one that I created and therefore is where I do most of my interacting in the forums (though there's not much interaction on my part -- sorry about that). There are several reasons that I prefer niche accounts, and I don't feel that I need to get into it here (I might blog about it at some point though!), but now I'm faced with a problem.
   
   Right now my most active account is beckisgiftguides, which is where I post the majority of my seasonal hubs. For some strange reason I've also wound up putting a lot of craft-related material on this account as well (though I may wind up moving that at a later date).
   
   Anyway, I'm confusing the issue here. The problem is that in some cases I have material that needs clarification, and I'd like to write another hub about a particular issue. Let's say, for example, that I'm working on a hub for Mother's Day, and I want to stay on the topic of "Ideas for Blended Families Celebrating Mother's Day Together" but I want to discuss some of my personal experiences as part of a recently blended family. The most appropriate place for my personal information is NOT on the beckisgiftguides account, but wherever I'm writing about adoption issues.
   
   I understand that inter-linking my own hubs from multiple accounts is discouraged, but what if it's done sparingly and the links are marked "nofollow?" So far the only other solutions I can come up with takes content away from Hubpages and I'm certain that's not what Hubpages prefers, since many of my hubs are making money.
   
   Any suggestions or help? I'm not doing this for back links, I'm looking for easier ways to clarify information and perhaps direct some traffic from one place to another. I'm all about organic traffic, and I don't have a back linking system going on at all.

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   1. 0

      calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It's not discouraged to link to your own hubs in the same account, your own in another account, or others' hubs.  Interlinking between articles is good for a website.  What HubPages doesn't want people to do is link to unrelated articles, or write the same content on two different accounts.  But you're doing neither of those things, so go ahead and link.

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      1. 85

         Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         That's what I was thinking, but I read in the forums a while back that we weren't supposed to link to our own hubs if they were on different accounts. I often inter-link on a single account, but I don't cross-link.
         
         I may have misinterpreted though because, in theory, if you're working with niche accounts two articles on two separate accounts shouldn't be relevant to one another. I'm surprised by how often I have cross-related content. For example, recommending a certain brand of product on one account (where I talk about crafts) and then writing about the company that produces it on my main account. That's a relevant link, depending on the context.
         
         Thank you! That was very helpful (:

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Now, where did you get that idea?  It's not the case at all.  What is discouraged, as c-g says, is linking to unrelated Hubs - but in this case, they won't be unrelated so it will be no problem.

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      1. 85

         Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Huh. I'd read it in a discussion on the forums about whether or not we're allowed to use multiple accounts for niche topics. If I'd known we could inter-link, I'd have been doing it the whole time because I often have hubs on niche accounts that relate to one another. I wish I'd known the whole time :-/
         
         It's very possible that I mis-read something somewhere along the way though.

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      2. 77

         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Somebody did say this in a forum at one time. I took my links off of my hubs and the traffic went way down. It was about a year ago I think. Now that they are back on, it helps.

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         1. 0

            calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            There seems to be an epidemic of people spouting off "rules" that are not rules at all.  Lately I've heard
            
            * You have to delete any comment that contains a link
            * You can't have more than one account
            * You can't put any affiliate links in your articles
            * You can't link to your own hubs
            * Hubs won't be featured (or published) unless they have 700 words (or 1000 words) and three pictures
            
            The minimum word count crowd has certainly been vocal lately misleading people. Honestly, unless you hear it straight from staff or read it directly in the Learning Center or FAQ, you can safely ignore most of the bogus "rules" certain misinformed users are determined to disseminate.

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            1. 85

               Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I believe the rule about affiliate links was, at one point, legitimate. That being said, I haven't reviewed those rules in more than a couple of years so I concede that it's probably changed. At one point there was a two link per domain rule in place (much like what I believe Squidoo still has for non-Giants) and it seems that rule remains similar.
               
               As to the "rule" I originally mentioned, the reason it made sense to me was that Hubpages could potentially view this as being promotional for my own hubs, since each account has its own subdomain and therefore provides (some?) link juice to the hub on a separate account. IIRC, the person who made the statement which I either misinterpreted or who was misinformed said that you can link as long as it's not excessive, which is what I was intending to ask.
               
               I think that what might have happened is that someone misinterpreted other rules and combined them into one hot mess. If you possess multiple accounts which are closely related to one another (I write about relationships, so let's say that I had an account for dating and an account for marriage, for example) and used those two accounts to continually cross-link material, this is not only making multiple accounts for the same subject, but it's making multiple accounts essentially solely for the purpose of cross-germination.
               
               It seems likely that a few confused (and perhaps controlling) individuals are answering questions they don't have any knowledge about based on a misinterpretation of the HP rules.
               
               The correct answers actually help me, though I believe the people who are spreading misinformation are probably (mostly) well-intentioned. Clearly if people do too much inter-linking of their own hubs, particularly if they're cross-linking from multiple accounts, it does begin to look as though the sole purpose in doing so is promotion, which is discouraged.

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               1. 86

                  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Personally, I think it's just a natural human reaction.   There will always be people who read advice about something, and take it to extremes.  Notice how, when there's a study which says too much fat (or gluten or .....) is bad for you, there will be people who panic and give whatever-it-is up completely (which is actually unhealthy too, but I digress).
                  
                  The affiliate rule is a perfect example.  HubPages identified excessive affiliate links as a problem, so it made a decision to place limits on the number of Amazon and eBay capsules.  Presumably it thought long and hard about that limit, so you'd think Hubbers would be happy with that.  But no, there are people who think they know better, and are constantly advising people how terribly dangerous affiliate links are.

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                  1. 85

                     Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Honestly, Hubpages makes it so easy to fix your mistakes that you'd think people would stop panicking and just go ahead and make mistakes and fix them if they had to. I was worried because I've heard threats of whole accounts being shut down without warning, but now that I'm thinking about it, that just doesn't sound like Hubpages. Recent experience on another site (which shall remain nameless) tells me that others aren't quite as diplomatic (or, for that matter, discerning).

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   3. 82

      Marketing Meritposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      For some reason, I also thought that I had read somewhere that you weren't supposed to link to other hubs, in your other accounts. However, this is all I can find about the subject:
      
      You may have more than one account, as long as they are used in the spirit of contribution to the community. Creating large numbers of accounts primarily for promotional purposes may result in all of them being banned. Creating Hubs about the same or very similar subjects in different accounts is also prohibited. Creating a new account after being banned is also prohibited. Please stick to a persona in the Forums; using more the one account to post in the same Forum thread is not allowed.

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      1. 85

         Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I've seen that as well. Now I'm even more confused, but as long as the inter-linking is in the spirit of contribution and helps readers to find the information they want, I'm satisfied with this. My accounts each cover vastly different topics (except in one case where one is niche and another is extremely niche as a derivative of the other). This is helpful. Thank you!

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            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I can't see anything in that quote that implies you should not interlink your accounts.

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            1. 85

               Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               No. I'm pretty sure I didn't see what I thought I saw or that I misinterpreted something and fell into the "better safe than sorry" category.

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